The new Toybox DX paradigm: ERASERS.

So today I finally got my giant package from Rinkya with the ERASERS I won:

VOTOMS ERASERS - These are each about an inch and a half tall, and there are about three or four Scopedog variations represented, including the Marshydog and Strong Box. There was one lonely Turtle in the batch. VOTOMS was such a modeler-oriented show, I'm surprised these were made.

Musai missile firing platform for ERASERS - Apparently a gashapon kit, it has a little mounting peg on top of the bridge for an ERASER.

Pellet shooting gun platform for ERASERS - Another gashapon kit. Forget the name of this, it was from the MSV era. Pretty neat.

Ahgama ERASER launcher - Now that I have one of these in hand, I can tell you that it's really cool. Apparently these were candy toys (see them at the Bandai site here: [www.bandai.co.jp]). The launching mechanism is a little fiddly, and even though they took care to make sure the ERASER doesn't sit on the mounting peg too tightly, it doesn't end up launching so much as flopping off the catapult. I may have to dissect this one and experiment with strengthening the spring.

Metal SD Gundam ERASERS - Again, something I've seen on the web pretty frequently but was surprised at how awesome they are up close. Essentially they took the ERASER molds and did a run in metal instead of rubber, and they are incredibly heavy. I'm pretty sure they were mailaways.

The latter two items were part of a lot that included another kilo of SD Gundam ERASERS, reeking with that great smoky-metal smell of Japan.

Possibly the coolest surprise in the box was this, which came with the VOTOMS lot:

Yep, that's the Soltic, in his little snowsuit. I have no idea where this came from, because it's the same size as the ERASERS that came with the Magnetype Dougram, but not the same material.

While I was taking my awful pictures of this little discovery, I guess I realized why I've gravitated to this stuff. Jumbos, vinyls, die-cast, all of those have been pretty thoroughly catalogued by American collectors by now, but these things, the cruddy little candy toys and their ilk, are a mostly undiscovered country. This aspect has definitely brought some more fun into my collecting life as of late.

The other thing I've learned is that mounting an SD pencil topper on the end of your pen is a very good deterrent if you want to stop chewing it. And that's a good thing.

Luckily Ive been eating nothing but 100 yen pork roll buns since I got here and was able to scrape 2,000 yen together for a bag of ERASERS depicting Invaders, possibly from Space. I will post pictures after I recover from my scurvy. Hopefully I will be full of Vitamin C and apostrophes the next time I log in.

Roger, you better be fucking around with us. I have a friend who's studying neuroscience in Tokyo right now, and she's supposed to pick me up a pound of erasers at Mandarake, and if the prices have really gone through the roof, it will not be cool...

Steve, I did see the Yamato ERASER that splits into two parts. It was packed in a bag with some other stuff, though, and I think the price was high.

Paul, Im not fucking around. I didnt see any kilo-sized bags of SD Gundam ERASERS like the ones Ive gotten before, but that doesnt mean one wont surface again. Robot Robot has bins of ERASERS you can load up from, but theyve been pretty thoroughly mined - all they have are Kinikuman ones now.

I also saw a complete set of SD Spiral Zone ERASERS. Never knew those existed.

Matt, I find your lack of ERASERS disturbing. Begun, this keshigomu war has.

Gojira-ya in Koenji has big bins of ERASERS to dig through, 60 yen each or 500 yen for 10. About 15% of the bins are SD Gundam. I found that Yamato in there (the one that has the hull that splits into two parts), but couldnt find the engine so I ditched it. You can also spend $1500 on a super deformed Charles Bronson vinyl they have there.

Gargamels store in Koenji also has Baikin Gundan keshigomu (featured in Super7 Magazine) in the gashapon machines. 200 yen gets you a capsule stuffed with four or so. They have little suction cups, too. 100 yen will get you these new die-cast Pokemon toys. You can display them in public and tell people that you bought them from artisans in Soho and get away with it.

Sadly, I have given up in my quest to find a SD Gundam Ballute eraser by digging through bins. If anyone has a lead on one, Im ashamed to admit Ill pay up to $10 for it.